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he Call to 

America 

By 

E.Ci.Pipp 




The Needs 

Aii*planes 
Munitioiis 

Propaganda 

and ^» 

Food ^lway;i 




From (111 Etc)iiiis by raiil Mansard 

THE SOMME 

With the falling of each twig a man fell; with the breaking of 
each bough a home was broken. The artist shows what was 
left of the wood at the edge of the Somme battlefield; those 
who fought and fell have gone beyond, but their cause lives. 



Introduction 

Since my return from Europe, where 
I went this year to make a study of war 
conditions, I have made over forty 
pubHc talks, trying to bring the war 
home to the people, and to show the 
vital part each toiler at home takes in 
the great struggle. 

This booklet is sent out for the same 
purpose, is made up of these talks and 
other facts a part of which I h:ive 
written before. 

E. G. PIPP. 
Detroit, Mich., 1918. 



''The Call to America'' 



BY E. G. PIPP 

(COPYRIGHT 1918) 



PUBLISHED BY 

E. G. PIPP 

124 BLAINE AVENUE 
DETROIT, - - MICH. 



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61" 
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AUG i 7 1318 

©CI.A502540 



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The Call to America 



What word can be given to the father or mother who 
has seen a son march away to war? 

What can be said to the parent who has tossed open-eyed 
until dawn, wondering how it all would end? 

What message can go to him or to her who has spoken 
cheerful words when tears were welling, who has seen the 
empty chair, who has walked into silence where once there 
was a son's voice? 

Brave fathers and mothers are they who have given up a 
million sons to risk their all in the struggle for world de- 
cency. Uncomplaining they go their way, but in the still 
of the night there come thoughts. 

In a London restaurant a young wife was serving at the 
tables. A man in khaki came in— her husband. He extend- 
ed a hand, and she pressed it in both of hers. 

The husband had offered his services in the early days of 
the war, but was rejected as physically unfit. But now — ■ 
now England needs men to help hold the lines. So, what 
if this man has one bad eye? He can level a gun with the 
other. What if his form is not robust? His head has over- 
come that before and can again. 

There they stood and talked in hushed voices — husband 
and wife, hand in hand, the scene too sacred for any thought 
of impatience on the part of the waiting guests. 

Then she kissed him, and patted his shoulder encourag- 
ingly as he left. She watched him descend the stairs, a 
quiver coming to her chin and lips. She asked another maid 
to take up the work of serving her tables and disappeared 
into a cloak room. When she came out, her eyes were 
wet, but her head was erect, her step firm, her whole 
bearing one of resolution. 

And so it is that brave young wives of America shed 
their tears in the secret of their closets as do the no less 
brave wives of Britain and the equally brave wives of 
France. 

And what can there be in a message for them? 



We all love peace, but we are at war. 
Can aught be gained by glossing over war when we are 
in the conflict? 

We are not a people who must deceive ourselves into the 
thought that ours is a mere game when the instruments of 
play are rifle and bayonet, machine gun and bomb. 

He is best armed who knows his task. 

Ours is a people of that stern mettle that can look Grim 
War straight in the face and buckle in for that long, hard 
winning fight that will beat him down. 

It must be so, for we have entered and there is no turn- 
ing back. Our people may not have been a unit for enter- 
ing the war, but we are and must continue a unit for push- 
ing it to a right finish and an honorable peace. 

It must be so, for this is more than a war for the life of 
a nation. This is a war for keeping pure the life blood of 
all nations, which flows in honor among peoples, in keeping 
sacred the given word, in ending world brigandage and in 
cheating a ruthless military spirit of its unholy reward. 

Wars of nations are won by pitting men against men — 
justice of cause, numbers, equipment, food, skill, relative 
position, staying quality, unity of action ; these count. 

How stands it, then, with our boys over seas and those 
to follow? Which means, how stands it with our people 
as a nation? Which means, how stands it with the stars 
and stripes and all they have meant to a free people ? Which 
means, how stands it with England, proud mistress of the 
sea? Which means, how stands it with France and other 
nations in the conflict? Which means, how stands it with 
world civilization? Shall its future be built in the arts of 
peace, swayed by love in the heart, resting its hope in fer- 
tile valleys, humming industry, peaceful firesides, or shall 
it wear helmet and spur, riding the steed of hatred, pushing 
its way with the thrust of the bayonet? 

How it stands with these depends largely on how it stands 
with Americans at home. 

Our people must understand the enemy they have to fight ; 
they must understand, too, the strength of our allies, and 
that which we must supply to make the winning sure. 

The great conflict centers in the western front; there 
rages the struggle of peoples who love the arts of peace 
against a people who would rule by the sword. 



The Seed and Fruit of German 
Militarism 



In 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte was having things 
very much his own way in Europe, he whipped Prussia, 
took a large portion of Prussian territory and about half of 
the Prussian subjects away from the Prussian sovereign, 
and, finding the rulers still very much inclined toward 
militarism, prescribed limits to their army, to which 
Prussia agreed because she had to. 

The agreement was that Prussia should not have an army 
of over 42,000 men. Prussia lived up to that agreement to 
the letter, but — 

Even in that early day Prussia showed her ability to 
wriggle out of an agreement that was distasteful to her, 
and she did not live up to the spirit of it. She did not 
maintain an army of over 42,000 men at any one time — 
that is an active army — but she kept men in until they 
were well trained ; then they went out and others went 
in for training, and so it was until a very large portion 
of the male population was drilled and ready for action 
should necessity arise. 

The military policy inaugurated then has been maintained 
to this day, as has the policy of the rulers — they bend 
their morals to the personal desires, and, taking the other 
half of the step, violate agreements in letter as well is in 
spirit. 

That Prussian military spirit did not subside or even lie 
dormant. When others thought they had it paralyzed, it 
still thrived. In 1848, it had become so strong that many 
Germans themselves rebelled against it, and left the country 
rather than submit to its advocates. Hundreds of thousands 
of others left later. 

In 1871 this military spirit was even stronger, and it 
was then that the Germans reaped the great harvest of 
their policy, wresting Alsace and Lorraine from France. 

And it is this same military spirit that the world faces 
today. 



Stronger, more arrogant, grown selfish, cold and brutal, 
militarism is trying to fasten itself on the remainder of the 
world, to the profit of the one nation that became an armed 
camp. 

It is the fruit of this militarism that one sees everywhere 
along the fighting front in Europe, the militarism that men- 
aces America today as it menaces every European country 
that has fought and is fighting to prevent its spread. 

To fully understand all that this war means to us and 
the problems America has to face — serious problems, more 
serious than many of us have realized — we must consider 
the situation in four important phases. They are : 

What is it going to take to thoroughly whip Germany ? 

How much of it can and will England do? 

How much of it can and will France do? 

How much must America do to finish the job? 

GERMAN METHODS OF FIGHTING 

We cannot understand what it is going to take to whip 
Germany unless we know something about the German 
methods of fighting our men must face, and what there 
is left of Germany to whip. 

In studying war conditions I went into England first, 
where I observed all the various activities, with the view 
of watching both men and materials from the recruiting 
of the men, through the training in all branches, to the 
battle front and back through base hospitals, hospital ships, 
and into the general hospitals ; also the manufacture of 
munitions from the factory to the front and back to the 
salvage plants. 

This brought me to the British front in March, the 
week before the great oflfensive began. Driving through 
all the larger cities north of the Somme and through 
about 75 smaller villages, stopping at scores of places of 
interest, I had the opportunity of observing all the lines 
of British defense and of getting something of an under- 
standing of the terrible sacrifice that an army must make 
in an effort to break through. 

As we walked through the trenches and on into the 
various lines of defense, the British and German cannon 
were even then sounding out each others guns and trying to 
silence the opposition with shell fire. In one place there 
was constant booming for two hours, the shells flying 



over our heads with a whiz-z-z and a whir, but we were 
in no great danger, for the shells were aimed far enough 
in front and back of us to pass safely over us. At times 
we stood by cannon as they were fired at the enemy. 

Everywhere was seen desolation. In Belgium and in 
many parts of France, the ground was all shell holes, 
pitted in so thick that they lapped into each other, and 
all were filled with muddy water, stranded tanks, cannon, 
shells, dead horses, helmets, bayonets, barbed wire, and 
wrecked trucks. Here and there was the body of a Ger- 
man soldier that probably had been buried with boots 
and uniform on but had been blown to the surface again 
by the explosion of shells. 




ARRAS 

In this row of buildings, there was left one inhabitant, the 
Little Old Woman of Arras. She had lived here all her life 
and refused to be driven out by German shells and bombs. 
Her bright smile and cheery words, her enthusiasm, her grit 
were an inspiration to the soldiers quartered in the cellars 
of Arras. Her spirit and her determination were imparted 
to them, and one cannot help but think of her in connection 
with Arras. When looking at the map it is seen that in the 
big drive of this year the line bent north of Arras and it bent 
south of Arras, but Arras did not yield. We too can be helpful, 
as she was helpful. We can send encouraging words to the 
brys over there, letting them know that we are grateful for 
their efforts; and we can give encouragement to the toilers 
in munition plants at home, letting them understand that 
we appreciate faithful service, for much depends on it. 




YPRES (in Belgium) 

The Nieuwerk before and after the 
Germans declared a treaty a scrap of paper. 



10 



The Drive for Amiens 



The cities along the British Hne of front were masses 
of tumbled down stone, and brick, and mortar. Shells 
had done their work everywhere. Hunt the cathedral in 
any of those cities and you would find wreckage every 
time. Not only cathedrals, but buildings of every kind 
were in ruins. Now and then enough of cellars would be 
left to afford a place of refuge for soldiers quartered there. 

It was over this devasted territory that the Germans 
proposed to make their drive for Amiens. 

A study of the map v/ill readily disclose their purpose. 
The German line was about 40 miles east of Amiens. 
This city is an important railway center, and to capture it 
would enable the Germans to cut the British army of the 
north oflf from the army of the south and prevent com- 
munication between the army of the north and the French, 
Americans, and British south of the Somme. 

Viewing the lines of defense, the cannon, howitzers, wire 
entanglements and trenches of the British, one would not 
think it possible for any human mind to exist so cold- 
blooded, and with so little regard for life as to attempt to 
push human flesh against steel to the extent required to 
break through. For every gain there must be a price, there 
must be a measurement of loss of life against ground 
gained. Men of experience and sanity can figure in advance 
to something of a certainty as to what the cost will be. and 
no general in the British, French or American army has 
been found so reckless of human life, so steeped in military 
heartlessness, as to be willing to pay the price that Germany 
paid, or willing to order the death of their own men as 
Germany ordered in the drive for Amiens. 

History records that when Napoleon was nearing his 
finish, when it was regarded that his mind was .becoming 
somewhat degenerate, he spent his military resource, the 
lives of his men, with just such profligacy as was shown by 
the Germans in the year 1918. 

The Kaiser himself came to the western front to make 
this battle his battle. Intrigue had won in Russia, but in- 
trigue could not fool the British, nor treachery touch 



11 



them; militarism must prevail for Germany at all cost; 
the rulers must make another showing, whatever the loss 
in life to the men in the ranks, who with their ancestors 
had had training of over a century in nothing but taking 
orders. 

And so on the twenty-first day of March, the blow was 
struck, the British resolute, determined, believing thev 
could hold the line, the German generals striking with that 
madness and recklessness that comes of desperation. 

Hundreds of thousands of men had been moved from the 
Russian front to help in the struggle. Smoke screens were 
thrown up to hide the movements from the observation 
balloons and airplanes ; some of the screens had been 
thrown up as early as the week before when we were there. 
The German guns coughed harder, louder and more often. 
The coughing and barking of guns and the whizzing of 
shells made that which we heard the week before seem like 
child's play. The Germans were shooting over their own 
line of trenches into the first line of British defense. That 
is the method of starting an offensive. 

The German men in their own trenches had been dressed 
in new uniforms, had been made to drink rum and ether 
so that they would be reckless and in a frame of mind to 
face any ordeal. The captains had not even been trusted 
vv^ith the information that their men were being marched 
to slaughter. At a given time the captains were to open 
written orders, and at another given time the heavy guns 
were to change their range from the first line of British 
defense to the second, and it was then that the Germans 
were to make the rush from their trenches to the first 
line of the British. 

To the surprise of the British, and to the surprise of 
humanity, the Germans came in solid mass formation, the 
same formation that Napoleon used in his last desperate 
struggles. Many of the British had been killed in the bar- 
rage, but others were there hanging on with true British 
grit. 

As that wave of Germans, a solid mass, came across the 
land between the British and German trenches, the heavy 
guns of the British opened on them. They had but to fire. 
They could not miss the enemy. The Germans sank to 
their death by thousands before those guns. But the war- 
mad managers behind those German soldiers had planned 



12 



for just such a slaughter of their own men. With the 
death struggles of the first wave of Germans, came a 
second, uniforms new, hearts beating fast, and brains 
borne up with the stimulus of rum and ether. They, too, 
went down before the terrific fire of the same British 
guns. 

The third wave of men came and a third wave of men 
died. 

Thousands more came in the fourth wave, and were piled 
dead above the bodies of their comrades. 

So it went, wave after wave, the German generals de- 
termined to make "the kaiser's own battle"' a victory by 
wearing out the British guns with German human flesh. 

The British gunners actually became heart-sick with 
killing the poor beings who marched to their death on the 
orders of their own cruel generals. 

When the ninth wave of men had come and died, the 
cannon in the first line of British defense became so hoi 
that they could not be fired any more. The gunners took 
ofif the breech locks and retired to the second line of de- 
fense. 

On came the tenth wave of Germans, there to meet the 
fate of the nine that had gone before. On came others, 
sacrifices to the will of an autocracy determined to fasten 
on the rest of the world the same militarism, that made 
these subjects give up their lives. 

But the German generals had more men to feed into the 
barrage of the second line of British guns, and they fed 
them ; fed them until more British gunners were sickened 
by the sight and fired more from duty than hatred — ex- 
cept such hatred that must arise in men, with red blood 
and with human hearts, for generals who will make such 
a sacrifice of human life. 

So human flesh wore down more steel ; men paid the toll 
with their lives until more British guns became too hot to 
be fired. Wave after wave and column after column per- 
ished before defense after defense. Stalwart men brought 
from the Russian front, old men forced into the service, 
mere boys in their teens, gave up their lives to the god of 
war; militarism was showing ofi^ at its best and at its 
worst. 

At a terrible cost of life, human beings wore down the 
last line of British defense, and German troops, shattered 



13 



and weary, but still buoyed by remaining effects of the 
stimulants, bore on to the west, even past Albert, and 
dangerously close to the coveted goal, Amiens. 

And there they were when we returned to that city on 
the fifth day of the battle, the day of great slaughter, the 
day on which it seemed to many that they might suc- 
ceed, but the very day on which they were stopped in the 
open. It was with the effects of the ether and rum gone, 
that the men, weary and worn, who had passed trench, 
cannon, and entanglement were brought to a halt where 
there were no entrenchments, were brought to a halt and 
held, held until reinforcements could come, held by the 
valiant British until the brilliant French troops could 
reach them. 

Let us pause here for a thought. If the German generals 
and the German military party will sacrifice their own 
men, as they surely did sacrifice them, to gain a point 
in strategy, what would they do to America and our allies 
if they should gain a final victory in the war? We should 
think of that when it comes to aiding our government and 
the auxiliary workers in their efforts to carry on the 
struggle to a right victory, to a right and lasting peace. 

BOMBING WOMEN AND CHILDREN 
AT AMIENS 

We left Paris at 11 o'clock on the Tuesday evening fol- 
lowing the opening of the great battle on the western 
front. We were on our way to London. 

Unable to cut off the railway communication at Amiens 
with their land forces, the Germans had sent airplanes 
over to blow up the railway station and tracks, to inter- 
rupt the traffic. Bombs had been dropped in many places. 
One hit the train that left Paris four hours ahead of us, 
and another had hit the track just in front of us, so that 
when dawn came we were stranded about three miles 
from Amiens. 

Looking out of the window we could see airplanes flying 
back and forth, singly, in pairs and in threes or fours. 

All along the highways people were fleeing before the 
onrush of the Germans. Women and children had gathered 
what few belongings they could convey and were walking 
along the road and pathways, trying to reach the station, 
hoping to go somewhere, anywhere, that would afford 



14 



safety. They used wheelbarrows, baby carts, toy wagons — 
anything with wheels that would carry a load, large or small. 

As the morning wore on, passengers began to leave the 
train. One man, with important papers that he didn't want 
the Germans to get, caught a train back to Paris, planning 
to reach London by way of Havre ; we were going by way 
of Boulogne. 

Hunger came with the noontime, so we left the train 
to hunt food, which we found after a walk of about two 
miles. A house had been abandoned and with it some bread 
and a dish of salmon which we appropriated. 

It was while on this road to Amiens that we were brought 
to a realization of what the Germans really had done. I 
had been in the city two weeks before. It was occupied by 
women and children and old men. Statistics show that in 
1906 it had a population of 78,000. The streets on the first 
visit were clean and orderly, the people well housed, feeling- 
safe, forty miles from the battle front. But on this day 
in March all was different. Fifty German airplanes had 
dropped 200 bombs on the city, blowing up homes and 
store buildings, killing women, children and old men. 

Added to the population of two weeks before were 
wounded soldiers and Red Cross nurses. We could see 
many of the men brought from the front being carried to 
the station on stretchers, to be taken further back to French 
or British hospitals. 

By the roadside we saw about sixty soldiers resting. They 
were in khaki and carried packs, and they appeared weary 
• (1 worn. A British officer told us that they had been in 
a hospital nearer the front ; that an ambulance had gone 
over and taken out the patients who were unable to walk, 
and that these, so far recovered as to be nearly ready for 
their discharges, had walked several miles to get away from 
the German forces. I did not learn what became of the 
hospital itself. 

Beside a house with the roof gone and part of a wall 
blown in, stood a woman with a babe wrapped in a shawl. 
She looked about, bewildered, dazed. She could not enter 
the home, for it w^as in ruins ; besides, there was every 
likelihood of more bombs being dropped. She motioned 
frantically at a man in a passing horse cart, but the 
vehicle was crowded and he heeded not. She crossed the 
street, sank by the roadside and hugged the babe closely 
to her breast. 



15 



And the German Kaiser calls on God and man to wit- 
ness the glory of his arms. 

We went back to our train but found it had gone. Again 
we hurried through the scenes of terror and devastation 
to the station, three miles away, hoping to catch the train 
there. 

Two weeks before, when I wanted to enter the station 
and take a train for Paris, I had to show my American 
passport, my British white pass, have an officer vouch for 
me and give the ticket agent the exact fare. This time the 
ticket agent had left, the guard and porters were missing; 
little remained but chaos. 

The only thing systematic about the whole place was the 
orderly manner in which men were carrying in stretchers 
bearing the wounded from the front and placing them on 
a Red Cross train in the station. 

We soon guessed that our train had not been able to pass 
through the railroad yards, so we walked into the station 
and along about two miles of tracks to find it. There 
were six or eight tracks in the yards and we passed from 
one to another, climbing over trains and through cars to 
make sure we were not missing ours. The glass was 
shattered in every car we saw ; bombs thrown over the 
area had worked the havoc. 

Many refugees had come into the yard and had piled on 
cars to which no engine was attached, as if hoping by some 
chance an engine would come along and take them some- 
where, anywhere, to safety. There were old women and 
young women, old men and children, huddled together, 
fearful lest the wrath of the German hordes should over- 
take them. We went through these scenes for over two 
miles and found our train about a half mile from where 
we had left it. 

With a war on, the Germans had a perfect right, accord- 
ing to the rules of international warfare, to bomb that rail- 
way station, to blow up the tracks, for it was through that 
station and on those tracks that men, munitions and food 
were sent from the south to supply the army of the north, 
and an army has a right to cut of¥ the reinforcements and 
supplies of an enemy army; but there can be no rule of 
humanity or decency, no right of any kind in law or pre- 
cedent that would permit the Germans to send over air- 
planes, and bomb women, children, old men, wounded 
soldiers and nurses who were in Amiens that night. 



16 



German Man Traps 



In some cities occupied by the Germans after the big- 
battle of the Somme and before Hindenbnrg's famous 
voluntary retreat, there was any amount of evidence of 
buildings being deliberately blown to pieces. One could 
easily tell the difference between the irregular hits by 
shell fire and the systematic blowing (Uit of the fronts of 
buildings on entire streets. 

When the Germans withdrew from one city after the 
first battle of the Somme, they blew the front out of 
buildings with such system and thoroughness that it 
appeared as though some one had come along with a 
huge cleaver, trying to chop oft" the front half of each 
building. 

After the battle, the Germans possessed this city, and, 
while some of the buildings showed the result of shell 
fire in battle, there was plenty of evidence of deliberate 
wrecking, of explosives having been i)laced in an entire 
row of three-story stone buildings — used for stores on 
the first floors, and dwellings on the second and third 
floors — and discharged with ruinous cft'ect. This was 
done just before Hindenbnrg's famous \oluntary retreat, 
after which the French came back to their city. 

In this city the French found one Imilding intact. It 
was their city hall. Of course, they conjectured, and 
were even generous enough to ascribe to the German 
generals some fine sentiment for having left their pub- 
lic building, even when they wrought ruin all about it. 
The mayor and others gathered to celebrate. They 
opened the door and stepped upon the threshold. There 
was a terrific explosion, and people and building were 
blown to pieces. There was very little even of the cellar 
walls left. Bombs had been placed in the building and 
wire attached to the threshold, with the result seen. 

In a residence a bouquet of flowers was left for those 
who returned. To it a string was attached, and when 
the bouquet was lifted there was an explosion with death 
and wreckage following. 



17 



In another building a bust of the kaiser was left; that 
to prove a German joke on the British. The retreating 
foe must have felt certain that when English troops saw 
that bust some soldier would grab it and dash it to the 
floor. But the British had become cautious by this time. 
They had a German prisoner, who was familiar with the 
city, and they told him to go in first and pick up the 
bust. He refused. Then they retired to a distance and 
took a shot at the Kaiser. The bust flew ofif the pedes- 
tal, and with it came the explosion that wrecked the 
building-. 




NESLE 

This shows the entrance to the city of Nesle as it was 
after earlier battles and before the struggles of this year. 



18 



Bombing London 

London is always warned when German airplanes cross 
the EngHsh channel. A watch is always kept at the coast. 
As soon as the word gets to London, whistles are blown, 
lights are put out; the city, already darkened, is made 
darker, and people seek safety wherever they can. 

The German airplanes usually come over in fleets of 
six, seven or eight. They come up the Thames river and 
locate London by counting bridges that cross the river. 
As the planes approach, London puts up a curtain of 
shrapnel fire about the city. That is, many big guns, 
powerful enough to shoot two or three miles in the air, 
are kept in certain positions and fired constantly, so long 
as the enemy planes are hovering near. The guns are 
not aimed at the planes, but so many of them are fired 
that it is almost impossible for a plane to get over the 
city without being hit. Most planes find the fire so hot 
that the pilots turn back, but frequently one or two get 
through and do their damage. 

It is said, and the authority seemed good, that it cost 
London $100,000 for powder and shells every time they 
have to fight off German airplanes, and a fight takes place 
on nearly every clear, moonlight night. There is a con- 
stant booming^ of the guns of defense for two or three 
hours at a time. 

Zeppelins quit coming some time ago, because the 
British invented a shell that would set the Zeppelin on 
fire. So long as British shells merely punctured the 
bottoms of the Zeppelins the Germans didn't mind, but 
with the inflammable shell, they restrict their raids to 
the airplanes. 

The object of these airplane raids is to terrorize the 
British women and children with the hope of bringing 
England to a German peace. 

They do terrorize many of the women and children, 
but the effect is directly opposite that sought by the raid- 
ers, for it only leads the British people to resent the in- 
human type of warfare ; makes them fight the harder to 
down the militarism that orders it. More than that, it 
helps to arouse all Christendom against the brutal war- 
fare of Germany. 

19 



Four of these raids were made in the four weeks that 
I was in London. In three of them an airplane got 
through, and each time women and children were killed. 

It is probably true that the Germans try to hit definite 
objects in their flight, but the difficulty in aiming well 
can be realized if you can imagine yourself on a fast 
flying express train on the edge of a precipice, trying to 
throw a missile from a car window to hit an object in 
a canyon two miles below you. 

The man in the bomb-throwing airplane is flying at 
the speed of at least eighty or ninety miles an hour. The 
British guns keep him something like two miles above 
the city, possibly more. It is always night time when 
he comes, and he has to locate his objects by their dis- 
tance from the river and their proximity to the bridges, 
which appear as mere streaks across the silvery thread 
of the river. But hit the object sought or miss it, their 
bombs come and usually with deadly efifect on others 
than those aimed at. That weight of wire and metal 
and explosives falling two miles or more will go through 
any building that it hits, and a single bomb will wreck 
a building 60 feet square. One bomb hit a hospital, 
killing a mother and her child, and injuring the doctor 
in charge. Another hit a motor bus carrying 40 persons, 
and there was little left of bus or passengers. 

During one raid I went to the top of a building at 
the outskirts of London to watch the explosion of the 
shells. There were constant flashes as they burst high 
up, scattering their pieces of steel and driving back the 
raiders. 

There is always danger in London from falling shrap- 
nel while the raid is on, for the shells are fired to fill the 
air, let the pieces fall where they may. This makes it 
dangerous to be on the strets, and very few people can 
be seen going about. Women and children in their fright 
go to the subways, seeking refuge on the platforms of 
the underground stations or in the moving trains. Hun- 
dreds of thousands were seen during one raid, huddled 
together awaiting the "All clear" signal so they could 
return to their homes with safety. 

Germany is as stupid as she is cruel in this method of 
warfare, for it demonstrates that she does not understand 
the British character at all, failing absolutely in the object 
sought. 

20 



THAT LONG RANGE GUN 

i'aris was not very excited, but deeply interested — 
also puzzled. It was on a Saturday morning in March. 

French airplanes were flying over the city, darting to 
the right and to the left, going in bird circles, flying high 
and flying low, acting as no other airplanes had been 
seen to act in the war zone. 

And the bombs continued to drop on the city. 

Some of the French people had taken to the cellars and 
subways for safety, as some always do when an air raid 
is on. Others gathered on the street corners or went 
about their business. As we stood on the pavement and 
watched the airplanes, we could feel the nervous tension 
of the aviators, transmitted in the very movement of their 
machines as they sought in vain to locate the German 
airplanes which they and we supposed were dropping 
the bombs. 

Then two things were observed : the bombs were drop- 
ping with a regularity that was soon measured at 15 
minutes between bombs, and there was a sound to the 
explosion difl:'erent from any heard before. 

There were some clouds above the city, and a theory 
was advanced that the Germans had found a way of fly- 
ing above the clouds, out of reach of French airplanes, 
but the regularity of the explosions soon set that thought 
aside. 

Then pieces of the flying missies were found, which 
disclosed the fact that shells and not bombs were being 
used — shells that had been sent a long distance from a 
gun. 

The thought that perhaps a traitor had permitted a 
German gun to get through the lines and shell Paris 
from a distance of 20 miles was being discussed, when the 
prime minister came out with the statement that the 
Germans had invented a long range gun and were send- 
ing shells into Paris from a distance of at least 62 miles. 

"An alibi for not being able to locate the German air- 
planes," said an American newspaper correspondent. 

"Don't you think it," said another, who was just in 
from the front, and who had observed cannon fire much 
of the time since the beginning of the war. 

The argument continued until an artillery expert en- 
tered and proved to his own satisfaction and the satis- 
faction of some of the others that it was absolutely impos- 

21 



sible to send a shell 62 miles. But the shells kept on 
coming. 

The next morning in one branch of the American mil- 
itary service, I was told that the gun had been located 
back of the German lines ; that the shells were being 
sent 20 miles in the air, coming all that distance and 
dropping on the city ; that the department was being 
telephoned every time the gun was fired, and that the 
shells were dropping every 15 minutes. One could hold 
his watch and listen, and the bang would come in the 15 
minutes, almost to a second. 

Then toward noon (it was on Sunday) the shells be- 
gan to drop every seven and a half minutes. The Ger- 
mans were evidently using two guns, alternating in the 
fire. After lunch, the intervals again were 15 minutes, 
and it was concluded that the first gun had become too 
hot to fire, and that the Germans were finishing out the 
day's entertainment with the second gun. The firing 
ended at 3 :40 o'clock. 

We went about the city that afternoon to observe the 
effect of the shelling on the French people. 

It was a spring-like day. The people thronged the 
boulevards and the main streets ; many were in the wide 
streets; they sat about the tables in front of the restau- 
rants, and of course all were discussing the new German 
method of attempting to terrorize women and children. 
Some talked seriously about it, others were puzzled, 
while still others joked. 

People were killed on each day of the shelling, but no 
great number. Later, on Good Friday, the German god 
of war reaped a greater harvest. We had left the city 
by that time, but we were told in London that the 75 
persons killed in a certain church had not been killed by 
the explosion of the shell that hit the church. The diam- 
eter of the shell sent was figured at nine inches, that 
conclusion having been reached by completing a circle 
from fragments of the shell. The weight was estimated 
at more than 300 pounds. When that shell came down 
its 20 miles and hit the roof of the church, it broke a 
beam and caused a large part of the roof to cave in, 
killing 75 persons and injuring more than 100. 

The plan failed absolutely in its object, for instead of 
inclining the French to sue for a German peace the efifect 
was directly opposite. It inclined them only to fight the 
harder. 

22 



German Prisoners of War 



It is impossible to get back of the German lines to 
learn the composition of the German army, but it is not 
impossible to learn something of that army. This was 
done by seeing a great many men and boys from the 
army in prison camps in England and France. 

Not far from London there is a camp for German offi- 
cers who have been captured by the British. As we ap- 
proached this camp, we saw 40 men in the blue-gray 
uniform of Germany, marching along the roadside for 
exercise. These men were permitted to take the exercise 
outside the guarded camp on their honor to return and 
to make no trouble for the three unarmed British officers 
who accompanied them. They lived up to this pledge. 
Besides having given their word, they must have realized 
that it would be difficult to get out of England should 
they attempt to make a break for liberty. They were 
not permitted, however, to go near any city or village. 

The camp itself was surrounded by barbed wire en- 
tanglements and watched over by guards with rifles. 
There were 300 German officers in the camp when we 
visited it, and enough private soldiers, also German pris- 
oners of war, to act as their orderlies. 

We were first taken into a room the size of a small 
church. There was a platform in one end and benches 
in the body of the room. On the platform was a piano, 
and a young officer was playing. Another was playing 
a violin, and a third a cornet. Two others were working 
at easels in another corner. 

The men in this room were young, very young for 
officers. The first one approached, a bright-eyed, kindly 
faced youth, who said he had entered the army at 16, 
was then 19, and a lieutenant when captured. His great 
desire in life was to get back to his studies. Another, 
no older, wanted to get back to his work as an engraver. 
Many other young men in the room were under 30, and 
all officers. One, found to be as old as 21, said that he 
had entered the Germany army at 15, before the war, 
but he did not seem to have the German military spirit 
as we understand it. 



23 




YPRES 

This is the famous Halles, or cloth market in Ypres, Belgium. 
The building was begun in 1201 and finished in 1304. This 
shows the beautiful structure as it stood for five centuries. 



24 




YPRES 

This shows the little museum place and the famous Halles 
or cloth market after the bombardment. Ypres had a pop- 
ulation of 17,000 and not a single building was left whole. 



25 



But the fact that here were a number of boys, very 
young, all officers when captured — the fact that they 
were in this camp made it sure they were officers — re- 
veals how pressed Germany is for men. The school boy 
is pressed into the service and made to carry responsibil- 
ities. 

But— 

In another room were older men — majors, captains, 
men up to 35 or 40, men steeped in German militarism, 
men who seemed to be apart from the young men seen 
in the first room. These older men had books, maga- 
zines and newspapers, and were in easy chairs, leisurely 
smoking and reading. 

There could be seen in numbers men whom from their 
very appearances you would not trust. 

One major was approached, and his whole bearing 
was so pronounced one of deception and falsehood that 
it was not deemed worth while to waste breath on him. 
Another talked entertainingly and plausibly. His man- 
ner was pleasing, but there was something about it all 
that would leave one wondering. 

"What about him?" was asked an attendant. 
"The biggest liar in camp," was the prompt reply. 

There was a chapel, a part of the prison camp. In 
this were two officers, one practicing on a musical in- 
strument, the other working on a lithographing press, 
printing some poetry about the Rhine. 

If the clothing of the men w^as bedraggled when they 
were taken prisoners, the British officers made them send 
home for better uniforms, whole and clean, so that, on 
the whole, the officers presented a very neat appearance. 

They were permitted to receive packages from home, 
and one of these, being opened while we were there, told 
eloquently of the conditions in Germany. It had been 
sent by. a mother to her son in the prison camp. The 
package was about the size of a pasteboard shoe box, 
and in it were about a dozen very small potatoes, a few 
pieces of canned meat and other morsels of food. This 
meagre portion told of a mother's skimping in order to 
be able to send something to her boy prisoner who, in 



26 



reality, was faring very well. Tales were told in Germany 
of the want among the men in British camps, which led 
to the sending of this and other boxes, but the fact was 
and is that the British are living up to international law 
in caring for enemy prisoners. 

There was an agreement made before the war that 
officers in prison camps should receive 50 cents a day, 
and England was not regarding that as a dead letter, but 
was paying the amount to the officers. They had good 
food, more meat than I had seen in restaurants, plenty 
of tobacco and cigars, and good quarters. 

Another package received by one of the prisoners con- 
tained in it a small bottle of white tablets. The British 
officer who was inspecting all packages laid it to one side. 
The German officer got a companion to draw the atten- 
tion of the British officer to another package, and then 
picked up the forbidden bottle, shoving it into his pocket. 
"Put it down," commanded another British officer, not 
seen until then by the German. "Why do you try to 
take it when told not to?" 

"I am a German officer," said the prisoner. "That was 
intended for me, and you have no right to withhold from 
an officer that which is his." 

"For that, your mail and packages will be withheld for 
30 days," was the reply from a British officer who did 
not hold the German title in such awe and esteem as the 
German would have him. 

It revealed again the trend of mind that comes with 
German militarism. 

In other prison camps the private soldiers and non- 
commissioned officers were kept at work on the roads 
and repairing the salvage gathered on the battle fields and 
made over for use in future battles. 

The private soldiers did not impress one as being up 
to the average of the French, the British, or the Ameri- 
cans. They appeared to be men who lacked initiative, 
but who would take orders because they had been used 
to it all their lives. In a hand-to-hand combat, on the 
ground or in the air, the British, French and American 
can best them almost invariably. 



27 



THE MERCY CALL OF THE SEA 

German warfare has rendered useless the mercy call 
of the sea. 

We all know that the final act which brought America 
into the war was Germany's declared and executed ruth- 
less warfare on both passenger and freight shipping on 
the ocean. 

International law on destruction of belligerent and 
neutral shipping is clear and simple — and humane so far 
as there can be humanity in warfare. The rule provides 
that before a boat is sunk, the destroyer must rescue the 
passengers and make them safe ; then, under certain rules, 
it is legal to sink the boat. 

But Germany developed the submarine, and submarines 
can act only as snakes of the sea. 

The old rule of warfare, the iAd agreement, the old 
pledge of honor, given as men and as nations, did not 
suit the German method of warfare as applied by the 
submarines, so honor and the given word had to go, and 
the Germans deliberately sent boats and passengers to 
the bottom of the ocean without warning. 

But worse than that has been her action. 

With the development of wireless telegraphy came the 
distress call, or mercy call, the S. O. S. call of the sea. 
A boat in trouble could send up this call and other boats 
receiving it would rush to their rescue. 

Now, as a result of German practice, in crossing the 
ocean both ways we could receive wireless messages, 
but we could send out none for fear a Fritz might pick 
it up and sink the steamer — and he was sinking enough 
as it was. 

Our boat was kept dark at night. No one on deck 
was permitted to have a flash-light or to smoke a cigar, 
for fear the light would reveal the steamer's location to 
some enemy craft. We had to make quick turns on two 
occasions to get away. 

If a steamer hears an S. O. S. call now, the steamer 
has to continue on its way, heeding not the call. The 
reason for this, as stated by the officers on the steamer, 
is that two German submarines had been known to get 
together, send out a distress call, and then, when a ship 
came on an errand of mercy, send torpedoes into the ship 
and destroy it. 



2S 



When the Kaiser Wants to 
Be Good 



It was not long ago that the German government de- 
clared that it had concluded gas warfare to be inhuman, 
and expressed a desire to enter into an agreement with 
the allies to do away with that method of killing: and in- 
nictnig mjury upon soldiers during this war. 

(Germany had started it; that government had sprung 
a surprise costing the lives of a good many allied soldiers. 
Then the Allies took it up in self-defense, also inventing 
gas masks to protect the men in the trenches. 

We watched a gas attack demonstration The gas is 
carried by the wind, covering the ground like a thick, 
heavy blanket. It floats along scarcely two feet above 
the ground, sinking into the trenches as it is carried along. 

We also tested the strength of various gases. Going 
into a room twelve feet square, a small amount was 
forced into the room from an atomizer nn larger than 
those used for perfumery. It seemed that no more was 
sent into the room than would be required in perfuming 
a handkerchief, yet our eyes began to smart and water. 

We saw 67 men who had been victims of German gas. 
They were on a hospital ship. Their eyes, nostrils and 
lips were sore and swollen. Their lungs pained them as 
they breathed. They suffered terribly and they were not 
the worst sufferers among the victims, for some had died 
and others were still in a condition that made it impos- 
sible to move them. 

The wind is always necessary in a gas charge. When 
Germany came out with a desire to agree to use gas no 
more, the Allies naturally turned to statistics already 
prepared, and found that the wind in the western front 
blows so that the Allies can send a gas charge into the 
German lines several times oftener than the Germans 
can attack them. 



29 



Of course, that was the key to the Kaiser's desire to 
be good, but that was not the only one. 

Later, it became known that Germany is very short 
of rubber, an article very necessary in making the gas 
masks that protect the soldiers. 

So it is that Germany's inhuman method of warfare 
has been turned on her and finds her poorly prepared to 
protect herself. 

The Allies find that they are acting only along the line 
of common sense when they are suspicious every time 
the Kaiser and his military party make an offer to be 
good. 



THE KAISER AND 
GLORY 

When the German military powers in their clever dev- 
ilishness and in their devilish cleverness come forward 
with some new horror in the method of taking human 
life, the Kaiser comes out with a public statement, and 
it is always on one theme : he calls on God and man to 
witness the GLORY of the German arms. If it is bomb- 
ing women and children of London, if it is shelling the 
mothers and babes of Paris, if it is spreading poisonous 
gases; whatever it may be, the Kaiser speaks of glory, 
glory, glory always. Glory in taking human life ! 

Other nations think of service ; of making the world 
a better place in which to live ; of doing an unpleasant 
task, that of curbing this military spirit of the Kaiser 
and his military party. They regret that it is necessary 
to kill, but the enemy of humanity and world decency 
is abroad, and civilization must be defended. 

The very spirit in which the two sides are fighting 
marks the difference so clearly that there can be no ques- 
tion as to the right of it, as to where justice is and victory 
should be. 



30 



The British Fleet 



While we can rightly feel that we are doing much to 
help England by sending our troops over to finish up 
the struggle, we have been and now are under obliga- 
tions to England for a great protection that we have 
received and are still receiving. 

Ofif to the north of London is a part of the British 
fleet, a minor part, we are told. Light cruisers they are 
in name — great masses of steel, built and manned for 
fighting in reality. 

There they lie at anchor, like dogs chained in restraint, 
ready to be let loose at a moment's notice. One won- 
ders that there ever was so much floating steel and power 
and so many guns in the world. One does not wonder 
that the German navy stays tied in Kiel, afraid to come 
out, and one breathes thanks for America that the British 
navy not only stands as a protection for Britain's shores 
against an invader that now knows no law or rule of 
decent warfare, but protects also America's shores from 
the German navy. 

Count the cruisers, one does. There is an understand- 
ing, however, that figures shall not be published, but let 
cverv American breathe easier for that part of the navy, 
and let each of us, when inclined to think that we are 
placing Great Britain under certain obligations to us in 
sending troops over to help in the fight, remember that 
we are under lasting obligations to Great Britain for the 
protection she has afforded us with her fleet, ever on the 
watch in the North Sea. 

But the light cruiser squadron is not all, by any means. 
Farther to the north is reached another and greater part 
of the North Sea fleet. Battleships, they are. Veterans 
of the Jutland and of the Dardanelles are there. Lunch- 
eon was served on one that came out of the Jutland fight 
with wounds, but it was not beyond repair. Powerful 
and great and new. with others, the pride of the British 
navy is there — the greatest battleship afloat. 

To the left the floating fighters are seen, in great num- 
bers and tonnage beyond comprehension. To the right 



31 



are more battleships. Farther and farther, and still be- 
yond in the mist are seen the forms of more hulls, more 
stacks, more protectors of our shores and theirs. 

"If the Germans would only stay and fight ; if they 
only wouldn't run," said Durobeck, veteran admiral of 
the Dardanelles, modest of mien, as he put to sea with 
his squadron to take up the Avatch for his land and ours. 



BOYS IN THE TRENCHES 

A company of British infantry that I saw marching 
away to the trenches was made up of boys just turning 
19 years. England takes in the boys at 18, trains them 
a year and then sends them to the front. With the com- 
ing of American troops there was an agitation in Eng- 
land to send the 18-year-old boys to the trenches with 
six months' training instead of waiting a full year. 

Three companies, seen marching along the Strand for 
the front, were made up of men from 35 to 40 years old. 
All over England one notices the absence of young men, 
of men under 11 and boys over 18. They are either at 
the front or in training. 

It seemed to me that America would have to send at 
least 10,000,000 to the front before our manhood would 
1>e combed as close as it is combed in England. 

When America distributed some regiments among the 
troops of the Allies, that act was followed with an expres- 
sion for combing England still closer to make sure there 
was not a single slacker. 

The manager of one shell and cannon factory said that 
he had orders to have 700 of his men ready to go into 
the service. There were 3,700 men and 800 women work- 
ing there. I asked him to point out some of the men 
fit for service from the English viewpoint, and he did. 
They were mostly men with hair turning gray, 35 to 40, 
men much older than we have in the service. They w^ere 
to be replaced by women, it having been demonstrated 
that women can do efficient work in all lines of munition 
making. 

PLAYING FAIR 

When we in America deny ourselves that our allies 
may have, we can be sure that the sacrifice is appreciated 
and that England in no way takes advantage of what we 
do. 

32 



Very strict laws have been passed for conserving food 
over there and they are enforced rigidly. 

The object of the British government is so to distribute 
the food made available that rich and poor shall be 
served alike. To this end there are laws against hoard- 
ing, against any one person purchasing more than the 
government's allow^ance, and, to prevent profiteering, the 
government fixes the price of meat and other necessities. 

Gasoline and other war necessities are carefully con- 
served. In London the number of taxicabs has been re- 
duced, and the fare fixed. Private cars are forbidden to 
use gasoline, and one sees no pleasure riding in England, 
and no driving of passenger cars by private individuals 
except in the government service. 

On tvvo occasions when T was going on a tour of in- 
spection as a guest of the government, we were to pass 
through Hyde Park. Each time the driver asked me to 
sign a statement showing that the car was sent out by 
the government. Without this statement a policeman 
would have stopped us and ordered us to appear in police 
court. We did not see another car either time in passing 
through the park. England wants all the gasoline saved 
to use in transporting men and materials at the front 
and will not permit its use for private purposes. 




PERONNE (Somme) 

After deliberately destroying this building and preparing to retreat, 
the Germans posted a sign, "Do not bewail; but better smile." 



33 



British Grit 



In England, everywhere, one is impressed with the 
wonderful spirit of the people, with the indomitable will, 
with the grit, and the cleverness, yes, cleverness which 
equals that of the Germans but without the German 
bragging about it, with the capacity for taking punish- 
ment and no whining, with the generosity which talks of 
the achievements of others when their own are the equal 
of any. 

England has suffered, sufifered grievously ; the young 
men have died there by the hundreds of thousands, died 
in families in all the walks of life. But the spirit of 
Britain still lives. 

I spoke of this loss to an English ofificer. 

"Yes, it is true that our young men have given up their 
lives for international decency," he said, "but you ought 
to wait until you get to France. There is where the 
people have suffered ; there is where the ravages of war 
are felt. The French are brilliant fighters ; they take 
punishment and come back with a dash," and thus he con- 
tinued, giving credit to others as nearly every English- 
man does, when in reality Great Britain has carried a 
very large share of the burden, and has been the back- 
bone of the war on the part of the allies. 

After having visited their fleet, their munition plants 
and training camps, I remarked to a British colonel that 
their achievements were great ; that they had come out 
of a condition of unpreparedness and had made great 
strides. 

"Yes, we have finally gotten in shape to do a bit of 
good work," he said. The man himself had done brilliant 
work at the front. 

"But you Americans are doing things in a big way. 
You are accustomed to doing things on a large scale. 
We made many blunders at the beginning, but your peo- 
ple are shrewd enough to study them and profit by them. 
I think the work of America has been wonderful. Your 
government achieved great things quickly. You made 
a great record in the first five months of the war and 
you are still making it. In those five months America 



34 



declared war, passed appropriation bills, passed a con- 
scription law, treating all classes alike, built 16 great 
cantonments, had them well equipped and ready for use, 
and had 640,000 soldiers in them. You people may not 
realize it, but we who were in the early struggle here 
do realize that it was a wonderful piece of work, and it 
is a great satisfaction to know that your people as a whole 
are behind the movement ; that you give and give and 
pay and pay, with ever increasing amounts — and do it 
freely. 

"Some of us were a little impatient because you did 
not come into the war sooner. We thought that the 
Lusitania affair should have brought you in, but, as it 
appears to us now, your president was wiser about it 
than we were. An army to wage a successful war must 
have the people at home behind it heart and soul. You 
people were not a unit for entering the war, and so your 
president waited until you became a unit, and now the 
splendid results that mean a sure victory for all of us 
show that he knew the situation and what was best, 
better than we did." 

Nor was there any evidence anywhere of an effort on 
the part of the British to "jolly" Americans into carry- 
ing Britain's burden. The contrary seemed true to me. 
Instead of saying, "Let America do it," the spirit seemed 
to be more, "America has come in, now let us pitch in 
the harder, make more sacrifices, put in every last man 
and all together finish up the job as quickly as possible." 



FRANCE BLED WHITE 

In driving through something more than 75 villages 
and cities in France, scarcely a man under 45 or a boy 
over 18 years was seen except in uniform, and very few 
of them. They are all at the front or in their graves. 

France has been bled white. There is no more man 
power for her to draw on. She still has a good many 
men at the front, able-bodied and brilliant fighters. Their 
morale is good, especially since America came into the 
fight, but whatever additional army strength is needed 
to give the Germans their final beating must come from 
America, as far as France is concerned, for she can fur- 
nish no more. 



35 



What is There of Germany 
to Whip 



The whipping of Germany, the bringing of that ruth- 
less warlike nation to her knees, the establishing of a 
permanent, right and honorable peace, is a definite, con- 
crete task — a job that must be done. 

There are a definite number of soldiers serving in the 
German army and making ready to serve in the army. 
There is a definite amount of material at their command 
for fighting purposes. But whatever the number of men, 
whatever the amount of munitions, America's task is to 
supply enough of each to overpower the German army 
and force that nation to submit to a program of inter- 
national decency, to the right peace that America with 
her allies will determine on. 

Our duty as a nation is to get as near as we can to a 
correct estimate of what that power is and then defeat it. 

What is there then of the German army to be beaten? 

Figures that to me seemed absolutely reliable, figures 
that were checked over carefully against the statements 
of other authorities, and which were generally confirmed, 
showed that at the first of the year Germany had about 
7,100,000 soldiers on the western front, or available soon. 
This does not mean fit soldiers as we in America regard 
soldiers. It means all of her men in fit condition ; it 
means her boys even to her 1920 class; it means men in 
hospitals who are likely to recover and return to the 
ranks, for Germany is including all of these in her army 
roll. It means, also, almost any sort of a man able to 
hold and level a gun, be he of inferior physical or mental 
strength. 

Men and boys in prison camps and men and boys cap- 
tured in the big drives of this year show that Germany 
is drawing on her male population to the utmost in 
filling her army. And with these it is probably true that 



36 



she had 7,100,000 available the first of the year. It must 
be remembered, however, that the war to a large ex- 
tent is being fought now by boys who were only 13 or 
14 years old when hostilities commenced four years ago. 

But Germany hasn't the 7,100,000 men now. 

Up to the first of the year Germany lost about 4,300,- 
000 men. Since then she has probably lost a million more. 

In the first half of her drive north of the Somme which 
began March 21, she lost 375,000 (this is on good auth- 
ority). With the last half of that drive her total loss for 
the entire drive went above 500,000. She has been driv- 
ing in solid mass formation since, and has been paying 
dearly in life for every foot of ground gained. 

One British officer said to me: "It doesn't make so 
much difiference whether the German line is there or over 
here, but it does make a diiTerence in determining the 
war how many dead Germans are along the way." 

And when one sees the desolate country over which 
much of the fighting has been done this year, he can get 
the philosophy of the British viewpoint and wonder why 
the German generals pay so much in life for so little in 
ground gained. 

When one looks at the map and sees the advance made 
in the big drives of this year, he does not get an idea of 
half that has taken place, for he cannot see on the map 
the death that has been dealt to the German forces while 
they were making that gain. 

A fair estimate of the total loss to Germany in the 
drives is three-quarters of a million men. That is very 
conservative. 

But that is not the only way in which Germany is los- 
ing. 

In ordinary trench warfare, when there is no ofifensive 
on, no drive, Germany loses about 80,000 men a month. 
This was stated to me in Paris by a man of the highest 
authority, and it agrees with the statements of others. 
Nor is it unreasonable. 



37 



Germany's army, if placed along the western front, 
would have her meft and boys every inch of the way 
three deep, touching elbow to elbow. 

The British, the French, the Italians, the Belgians, the 
Portuguese, and now our own men are hurling trench 
bombs at the German army every day and night of the 
week. They have many different methods of sending 
the bombs, so they can reach any of the German trenches. 
To get 80,000 Germans a month means only one man a 
day for each quarter of a mile of trench, and when one 
sees the opportunities for trench fighting he readily un- 
derstands the reasonableness of the statement. 

That means a million men a year. That means that 
during this year, with drives and trench warfare, Ger- 
many will be reduced to fewer than six million men, 
boys, and convalescents. 

It is this army that must be beaten. 

It cannot be said that the morale of the German army 
is the best. There can be no question that Germany is 
war weary. The men in the ordinary walks of life are 
tired of killing and being killed. They know that while 
theirs have died and are being asked to die the six sons 
of the Kaiser still have whole skins. But the Germans 
of high and low caste are still working together in a com- 
pact fighting machine, doing the bidding of their war 
lords ; many going forward to be shot simply because 
they know that to turn back would mean death against 
a stone wall — or without even waiting to be lined up in 
that formal fashion. 

And it can be put down to a certainty that the Kaiser 
will have even more trouble among his own people than 
he has had when it is definitely learned by them how he 
has sent the sons and fathers to their death ; how he has 
spent human lives with profligacy never known before. 

But Germans are submitting and are fighting the fight 
of the Kaiser, and Germans must be beaten, for ours is 
an unconquered nation and an unconquered nation it 
must remain ; it is fighting the good fight for justice, for 
liberty, for international decency. 



38 



Overwhelm Germany 

The one answer to the millions of fathers and mothers 
whose sons are over seas or on the way, to the wives 
whose husbands are in the service, is that the way to 
save lives is to make our army so great and big and 
powerful that it can and will overwhelm Germany. 

This is costing money, much money, and will cost 
much more; but the nation should not weigh the cost 
when so many lives are at stake. 

Germany is at war as a nation. 

France is at war as a nation. 

England is at war as a nation. 

And so America must be at war as a nation, man, 
v.'oman and child. 

Germany is at the top of her speed. She is using every- 
thing at her command. .She is at the limit of her strength, 
with that strength greatly reduced through the sacrifices 
of England and France, but with still enough fighting 
force to inflict a great deal of punishment upon the na- 
tion that does not go over with an overwhelming 
strength. 

Our preparation should be so great and so thorough 
that there will be not the slightest question of a doubt 
as to what the result will be. 

To accomplish this we need : 

Ships. 

Airplanes. 

Munitions. 

MEN. 

Propaganda. 

And Food Always. 

Ships 

I was told, by a good authority, that for every thousand 
men we have in France we need 2,000 tons of shipping to 
keep them supplied in food and munitions. 

It it not for us as a people to say, "Let the ship build- 
ers do it?" or "Why don't they speed up?" It is for us 



39 



to remember that to build ships requires men and ma- 
terials, requires money from the government, and en- 
couragement to our officials. 

It is for each of us to give that encouragement ; to let 
our representatives in Washington know that we ap- 
prove of a program of building all the ships possible ; to 
let men working in the yards realize that they, as well 
as the men in the trenches, are a very important part of 
this war, and that in speeding up their work, in putting 
in every hour they can at the building of boats, they 
are doing more than serving themselves ; more than 
merely earning their wages ; they are serving the nation 
by helping to get the soldiers over there and food and 
munitions with which to supply them. 

Airplanes, Munitions and Men 

Every man or woman in America working in an air- 
plane plant or in a munition plant is a very vital part of 
this war. 

We have been taught lessons in air fighting, through 
our experience and the experience of others in France 
and in Belgium. 

No one knows just how the final victory is coming, but 
every one must know what are essentials to that victory. 

There must be men in great number along the battle 
front. There must be munitions without limit, so many 
that our fighters will never be without. There must be 
a rush through. 

This rush, however, should not come with the terrible 
sacrifice the Germans have made in their efforts to break 
through the western front. With plenty of materials it 
seems unnecessary that such a sacrifice should be made. 
We can be grateful that our generals hold life more 
sacred than to send their men to slaughter as the Ger- 
mans have done. 

If our generals should find a weakening in the German 
lines at any time, they can be depended on to take ad- 
vantage of the situation and go through. But if no 
weakening should be found, it will be possible for our air 
fighters, when massed in sufficient number and with 
plejity of swift flying airplanes equipped with machine, 
guns, to force an opening and to make such an attack 
on the German lines as to scatter them. Then our land 



40 



forces can and will go through, never stopping until 
Berlin is reached and the Kaiser and his military clique 
brought to book. 

Thousands upon thousands of airplanes and air fight- 
ers are needed for this ; munitions in such quantities as 
were never produced before must be turned out. 

We owe it to the million or more sons over there, to 
the millions of mothers and fathers who sent them, not 
only to make the army one of several millions but to 
bend our every resource and energy at home toward 
winning this war and ending it speedily. We must send 
over . enough soldiers and munitions so as to leave no 
question whatever as to the outcome. 

Every citizen must realize this ; every worker in mill 
or plant must know that our fighters over there cannot 
win unless furnished with the materials. 

Every hour is precious. The soldiers at the front must 
be on duty all the time ; the workers at home should 
be no less faithful to their tasks here. It means the lives 
of their sons, brothers, chums and friends who have gone 
across. It means the life and honor and future of our 
nation. 




Somewhat damaged, but still holding the line of defense. This 
soldier can be seen in the trench, and we can get an idea of 
the varying conditions under which the soldiers live and fight. 



41 



Propaganda 



Germany is fighting the war with her printing presses 
as well as with her guns. 

The German propaganda work has been thorough and 
extensive, and, to a great extent, effective. 

There is nothing that Germany has done quite so 
thoroughly as to advertise her thoroughness — this with a 
view of creating a feeling of awe toward her among other 
nations. But, while Germany is and has been thorough 
m many ways, she has done nothing and can do nothing" 
that cannot be matched and more than matched by other 
nations. 

In a building in London are four thousand girls and 
men, going through mail matter of all sorts, looking for 
German propaganda, and finding much of it. It comes 
in all sorts of forms; papers, booklets, magazines, bound 
volumes of books, post cards, and the like. 

In one room in this building sixty girls handle 14,000 
pounds of mail a day. In another room eighty men deal 
with a hundred and fifty-seven different languages and 
dialects. 

In still another room are samples of various books sent 
out by Germany as propaganda. There are 2,000 vol- 
umes, nicely bound, sent out as works on art, science, 
literature and nearly all other subjects in which men and 
women are interested, but in reality German propaganda 
to the core. There are books with gold and red covers 
to appeal to the Turks, books for nearly every nation on 
earth, whether ally, neutral or enemy. 

On a table in this same room, I saw W. J. Bryan's 
attack on England's treatment of India printed by Ger- 
many in twenty-seven different languages, still carrying 
Mr. Bryan as Secretary of State of the United States, all 
calculated to prejudice the world against England. 

Through intrigue and propaganda, Germany accom- 
plished in Russia that which she did not and could not 
accomplish with bullets and bayonets. Germany is still 
working among the Russians with force and persuasion 
hoping to get aid from them in her struggle. 



42 



Germany is working also among the people of South 
America, sending them not only printed matter, but cheap 
jewelry on which are kindly inscriptions regarding the 
Kaiser and members of his clique. 

German propaganda covers almost every line of 
thought ; racial questions come in for a great deal of atten- 
tion. In Berlin one organization will take an incident and 
dish it up for the Irish ; another organization will put 
its interpretation on the incident for the South American, 
or for the Hebrew, or the American ; one set for Catholic, 
another for Protestant. 

Need of American Propaganda. 

American propaganda should be distributed in every 
way possible among the nations of the earth. 

Our propaganda should not be of the deceptive sort 
used so freely by Germany, but should continue to be of 
that nature which gives the world to understand that 
America, man, woman and child, is back of the President 
when he says we are fighting a war not for gain, that 
we want neither territory nor indemnity, but are fighting 
to make the world a safe and decent place for future gen- 
erations ; fighting to stamp out that military spirit which 
has made German autocracy a menace to all civilization. 

Keeping ourselves right and letting the world under- 
stand, without bragging or self-glorification, that we 
mean to do only that which is right and will quit only 
when right prevails will help much. This will bind our 
Allies closer to us and cannot be without its effect in 
Germany if we are persistent enough to get the real truth 
to the German people. 

I do not mean to say that it is probable that this would 
make a break in Germany, but from what I have seen of 
German prisoners of war, I believe it is possible to make 
it harder for the Kaiser and his clique to keep his people 
in line, which means that it would be correspondingly 
easier for our men. 

Propaganda w^ork should in no way lead to a let up in 
the material preparation, but should increase it. 

America should get good and ready to give Germany 
the whipping of her history, and not stop until Kaiserism 
and the Kaiser's militarism are brought to their knees, 
submissive to the dictates of right and decency. 



43 



Common Sense Back of 
Censorship 

We Americans have formed a habit of thinking that the 
Germans have some uncanny method of learning all about 
the Allied armies, and that to print a bit of news regarding 
men connected with the army doesn't make any difference, 
because the Germans know all about it anyhow. 

Germany gets her information about the Allied armies as 
she gets everything else, by working hard, thoroughly and 
persistently at it. And, unfortunately, she is helped a great 
deal by well-meaning and seemingly harmless items appear- 
ing in newspapers. 

In one place in Switzerland there are 40 men at work 
early and late looking through American papers published 
in the smaller towns — seeking information for the German 
army. 

At another place are more men working just as hard 
on papers of all descriptions, gleaning every column for 
bits of news that will throw light on the situation as 
regards the Allied armies. 

At another place are perhaps more men working through 
technical journals and other publications seeking indications 
regarding the development of the fighting machinery of the 
Allies. The technical journals are a great source of infor- 
mation for the Germans. 

In Holland, too, are forces of men at the same work, 
though of late the greatest activity has shifted to Switzer- 
land. 

These men develop marvelous accuracy in spotting even 
a brief item in a whole page. And when we are likely to 
fuss and fume over censorship, are inclined to say that it 
is imposed regardless of the feeling of fathers and mothers 
at home, we should remember that the sole object of the 
censor is to save life, and his task is done with regard to 
the safety of the son at the front. 

Let us not forget for a minute that Germany is out to 
win this war by any means possible ; that the more of our 
men and boys her soldiers can kill the better her rulers 



44 



like it. That is their game, to kill, kill, all the time ; to 
press forward and kill more and more. And the more 
they know of our armies the more they are able to 
accomplish. 

Our soldiers are not in Europe on a picnic or a frolic; 
they are there on a serious business — the most serious 
business ever faced by any people on this globe. The 
business involves more lives than ever hung in the bal- 
ance before. 

Then, with the millions involved, what difference does it 
make if the devoted mother and father at home, who have 
given up a son, know where that son is, and the home paper, 
be it large or small, prints an item, telling the neighbors 
about it? Why deprive them of the crumb of comfort that 
comes with knowledge? 

Let us suppose the son belongs to a certain regiment, and 
that a certain paper reports him well or otherwise, at a 
given point. 

Surely no harm in that ! But isn't there ? 

Suppose up to this time the Germans had not known 
that the regiment was at that given point. The paper 
finds its way to the Mexican border, or to some South 
American point, then to Spain ; then it is easy so far as 
getting to Switzerland goes. 

The item is soon picked out of this paper there, and 
immediately German army officials know another regi- 
ment has been added ; they know where it is located and 
provide accordingly — with a cost of lives to America and 
her allies. 

Suppose Germany believed that only one brigade was 
at a given point, and the clipping experts should find in a 
paper that one man of the 9th was hurt there ; in another 
paper that another man of the 16th was hurt there; in an- 
other that another man of the 27th was hurt there. These 
clippings are brought together, and immediately Germany 
knows there are at least three brigades there instead oi one, 
and provides accordingly, eventually costing the lives of 
some of the men. 

Remote! Would you say? 

Not at all. Germany hasn't these hundreds of men comb- 
ing the papers of the allied countries for nothing. 



45 



Many a life has paid the penalty of well-meant and seem- 
ingly harmless newspaper items. 

And we are likely to complain because our sons cannot 
send home more information as to their whereabouts and 
doings. They need the backing and encouragement of the 
home folk, and to keep up our spirit and enthusiasm we 
should be told more, is the plea. 

Yes, ours is a hardship, the hardship of uncertainty, but 
the sons are the ones who suffer the real hardships, whose 
lives are at stake, and should we add to their danger that 
we might bring to ourselves greater peace of mind? Should 
we not be the ones to lend encouragement, to do all we can 
at home as the sons of America and the Allies are doing all 
they can in camps and at the front? 

A French soldier knew from preparations that were being 
made that certain army movements were contemplated as 
a surprise on the Germans. He wrote a letter to his parents 
about it. That letter did not have a chance of getting by 
the censor, but before he had an opportunity of trying to 
mail it he was captured in a small raid by the Germans. 
They got the letter, and as a result, when they saw great 
battalions of blue-helmeted French soldiers moving in a 
certain direction, they knew what it meant, met it, and at 
the cost of many French lives as well as their own, pre- 
vented what might have been a surprise attack and a victory. 

So long as England published her casualty list in the 
manner she did at the beginning of the war, Germany had 
easy picking in locating British forces. If a captain in a 
certain regiment was injured in a certain place Germany 
knew the regiment was there. If an officer in another regi- 
ment was injured there, Germany knew his regiment was 
there too. So Germany kept track of a great many regi- 
ments by watching the casualty lists. 

When England altered the manner of publishing these 
lists, Germany issued a statement saying that this very 
good means of locating British troops had been stopped 
They then began studying the provincial papers, and risk- 
ing and losing lives in raids to get information which had 
come easily before. 

Newspapers in America should be as careful about pub- 
lishing facts regarding the British and French armies as 
about our own, for they are all fighting together in a com- 
mon cause, their interests and perils being identical. 



46 



The four great cardinal principles that should be ob- 
served are : 

Do not tell what you are going to do. 

Do not tell where your forces are. 

Do not tell the strength of your forces. 

Do not tell the composition of your forces. 

These facts can be and often are disclosed by locating a 
single individual either dead or alive, often revealed by an 
unguarded statement. 

Our mothers and fathers should console themselves with 
this one thought: "It is better to have our sons safe and 
add to their safety than to know exactly where they are." 

To be sure, one feels that no harm could come from 
a letter written by a son to his mother. Surely not if it 
could be made certain that the letter wovild reach the mother 
only. But there is a wide space between the French front 
and the American home, and letters pass through many 
hands and sometimes go astray. So the censor has to 
treat every letter as though it were going to fall into 
German hands and he must see to it that there is nothing 
passed that would give valuable information to th,e enemy. 
This is not done to punish anybody, much less the mother 
or son, but solely to protect the son. 

To be sure one can hear instances of what is regarded 
as poor judgment by censors. Investigation often reveals 
the fact that perhaps the censor showed better judgment 
than the man who complained. 

One instance is shown in the case of a newspaper man 
who complained because his article was held up 40 days 
before being released. That was because it was 40 days 
before conditions were such that his article could do no 
harm. Time killed much of the value of his story ; time 
also made for the safety of the soldiers involved. 

Yet there are no doubt instances of bad judgment being 
used by individual censors out of the large numbers em- 
ployed. That must be true in all human efforts. Every- 
thing human has its mistakes, and the censorship no doubt 
has its, but if there are errors they might better be on the 
side of safety. 

It is up to the civilian to adjust himself to the war, its 
requirements and hardships. We are often inclined to say, 
"If the army wants our support, it must do this or that," as 



47 



though the army had gone to war for fun or as a personal 
proposition of gain. 

It is for us to remember that the army is a part of our 
national being, that it has gone to war for us, to protect our 
country and our interests, and that when we render it sup- 
port we are not making it a gift of anything. 

We are rendering only a small part of what we actually 
owe the army, and to give it support short of anything to 
the utmost of our ability is to shirk our duty, to neglect a 
sacred obligation; and if we cannot learn all that we 
would know about it, it is for us not to whine but to face 
the disappointment with the same fortitude that our sons 
face the enemy at the front. 

It is for us, too, to use every hour of our time, every bit 
of our energy, every dollar at our command that the boys 
at the front may be provided with weapons and muni- 
tions with which to make sure and speedy the victory 
that must come. 




PERONNE (Somme) 

A view in one of the main streets. This shows a city as the 
Germans left it after the first battle of the Somme. Peronne 
is again in the hands of the Germans. This shows the 
general condition of the cities they fought to regain. 



48 



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